Rathika loses close final in NSW Open squash

Sydney | India's Rathika Suthanthira Seelan lost a fiercely-contested final to Canadian top seed Iman Shaheen over five games in the NSW Open squash tournament here on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Rathika, second seed and world No. 180, rallied to win the third and fourth games in what was her fourth PSA final to take the Challenger event title-round down to the wire.

However, the Canadian edged her out in the decider to seal a hard-fought 11-8, 11-3, 4-11, 10-12, 12-10 in 61 minutes.

Earlier on Saturday, Rathika stormed into her fourth PSA final with straight-games win over New Zealand's sixth seed Emma Merson.

Meanwhile, in Springfield (US), fifth seed and world No. 51 Veer Chotrani beat American world No. 32 and third seed Timothy Brownell 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 in the semifinals of the St James Expression Open, a PSA Copper event.

Chotrani will meet Mexican top seed Leonel Cardenas in the final.